


Five Times Sam Showed Steve A Wikipedia Page And One Time Steve Showed Sam A Wikipedia Page

by KingHippiedude (missreader)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexual Sam Wilson, Asexual Steve Rogers, Asexuality, Coming Out, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 19:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3908356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missreader/pseuds/KingHippiedude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the tin. Sam shows Steve Wikipedia pages whenever he needs to get caught up to the 21st century. After Sam introduces Steve to asexuality via Wikipedia, Steve realizes that he's ace too, and eventually they start dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Asexuality

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stormchasersteve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormchasersteve/gifts).



> Written for the Sam/Steve Exchange 2015 as a gift for tumblr user [serazienne](serazienne.tumblr.com). Hope this is what you were looking for.

“What is Capital Pride?” Steve asked Sam, pointing to a flyer on the noticeboard at the VA.

“Oh. I’d almost forgotten that’s coming up soon. I need to mark that on my calendar,” Sam replied. “Capital Pride is DC’s LGBT Pride Parade. Pretty much a ton of LGBT people get together downtown and celebrate all weekend.”

“LGBT?”

“Uh… Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. But that’s just the short acronym; there are a lot more identities that are involved in Pride and the LGBT community and movement. Like asexuality. But the acronym starts getting unwieldy if you try to include them all, and no one seems to be able to agree on another term.”

“What was that you mentioned… asexuality?”

“Yeah. It means we aren’t sexually attracted to people at all. Let me just…” Sam trailed off as he pulled out his phone and started typing something. “Here,” he said, handing the phone to Steve.

On the screen was a wikipedia article titled ‘Asexuality’. Steve skimmed the article quickly, asking “you said ‘we’?”

“Yeah. I’m ace- asexual. And homoromantic. Like homosexual but without the sex. So I like to date guys, but I don’t have sex with them.”

Steve clinked on the link for the related article on romantic orientations. It was a lot of information to take in at once, and he had never heard some of the terms before.

“So, you mean there are other people like me? I always thought that it was just because I was so small and sick all the time, but the serum didn’t fix it. I still didn’t feel I was supposed to about Peggy even though I loved her. I never wanted to have sex with her. I just thought there was something wrong with me…”

Sam just hugged Steve in response, and after a moment’s silence he said, “there is absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

And when they parted Sam said, “so, back to the original topic, do you want to join me at Pride this year?”


	2. Stonewall Riots

“Uh, yeah, sure, I guess. It’s still strange to me that people are so open about their sexuality. In my day no one would ever have been so public about being ho- gay. You could get sent to jail for that. And now people have parades. How did that happen?”

“Well, it wasn’t always so happy. Like you said, it used to be a crime. But in the 60s, I think it was, there were these riots in New York after the police raided a gay bar or something. Here, give me my phone back.”

Steve handed him the phone, and Sam started typing again then handed it back with a new Wikipedia article open. This one was titled ‘Stonewall Riots’.

“So anyways,” Sam continued as Steve started reading the article, “the riots brought people together to fight for rights and protections. And a few years later Pride parades started in New York and a few other cities to commemorate the riots and celebrate what they had accomplished. Now they happen all over the place, though people seem to have forgotten where it all started. It’s mostly about being proud and having a good time now.”

“I think I’d like to see that.”

***

When Sam and Steve got home that afternoon, Sam grabbed his laptop and opened some website, handing it to Steve. It was AVEN: the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network, and it was opened to the ‘create an account’ page.

“So, you don’t have to, and you don’t have to use your real name or anything, but I think you should make an account on here so you can talk to some other asexual people. I’m happy to answer questions and stuff, but I’m just one person, I don’t know everything, and our experiences might not be the same. I just want you to know that you aren’t alone.”

“Thanks Sam,” Steve said. And he started filling in the little information boxes. He started to use a fake name that SHIELD had given him, then thought better of it and just typed in ‘Steven R’ and chose an innocuous username. He spent a couple hours roaming through the forums and reading other people’s stories. He considered making his own post, but he didn’t know what to say, so he stuck to reading what other people had written.

And Steve also spent a lot of time thinking about his relationship with Sam. They had grown close during the month they spent chasing down Bucky and wiping out Hydra cells, and they lived together now. Steve had never bothered to get a new apartment after the last one was shot up by the Winter Soldier. It wasn’t quite the same as they way he felt about Peggy or Bucky. He had loved them both in different ways. No matter what the crazy fanfiction writers he had encountered thought, Steve and Bucky had never been in a relationship, or wanted to be. They were like brothers, and anyways Bucky was as straight as they come, even if Steve wasn’t. With Peggy it had been sudden and full of admiration. He might not have wanted to have sex with her, but Steve certainly found her attractive and admired her assertiveness. With Sam it had started slow. First he was just a nice guy running by the monuments; then he was Steve’s friend; and now he didn’t know what they were to each other. They weren’t dating, but they were more than just friends. Steve scrolled through pages of posts about asexual relationships. He wondered if that might be something he would be interested in, but he pushed it from his mind when Sam announced that dinner was ready.

***

Sam filtered back into his thoughts as Steve lay in bed that night. He had to admit that being in a relationship sounded nice; he and Sam were practically in a relationship already. Steve fell asleep with that thought and dreamed of Sam lying next to him in the bed.

***

“Sam, would like to have dinner with me sometime?” Steve asked, a few days later.

“We have dinner together all the time.”

“As a date.”

Sam looked at Steve intently for a moment, then said, “yes. I think I’d like that.”


	3. Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Dinner started off a little awkward, but Steve and Sam knew each other well enough that it didn’t stay that way for long.

“So, were you and Bucky ever…?”

“No. Definitely not. He was like my brother. It would have been way too weird,” Steve said. “You and Riley?”

“Yeah. I haven’t seen anybody since he died, so this is all a little new. Our relationship was… complicated. He wasn’t ace, and we had some issues with that. But we were at war, and we were partners, and it just kind of happened. It was complicated, but it was good. And I didn’t exactly know how to deal when he was gone. It was lonely out there, and then I come home and somehow it was even more lonely. That doesn’t even make sense…”

“No. I get that. Waking up in the twenty-first century and realizing that the war was over was pretty fucking lonely. And not just because pretty much everyone I knew is dead. I was surrounded by people, but I didn’t really know any if them, and they didn’t know me, and I didn’t really feel like I had a purpose anymore. So, yeah, I understand.”

“I just… sorry this is so maudlin, this probably isn’t what you were anticipating for a date. But I guess we might as well get it out of the way now. I just can’t get over the fact that Riley died just a month before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed. He wanted so bad for us to be able to be open about our relationship, but…”

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”

“I forget you don’t know these things,” Sam said, whipping out his phone and opening the Wikipedia app. He passed it to Steve with the article on DADT open. “Pretty much, the military decided that they weren’t gonna discharge people for maybe being gay anymore, but they didn’t like the idea of gay people serving either. So they came up with this policy where they don’t ask and you don’t tell and everything is fine and dandy. But it wasn’t actually fine and dandy, and a lot of people were pretty miserable because of it. And same-sex partners couldn’t get benefits, or even recognition really. It was pretty screwed up, though it was probably better than it was in your day.”

Steve looked up from where he was scrolling through the article. “So gay people can serve openly now and get married and… I never imagined any of this would be possible before I woke up here. Two men having dinner together like we are would have gotten us killed in my day. I don’t miss that at all. And any hint of ‘homosexual tendencies’ could get you kicked out of the army; there were exceptions to that, but it was also a good excuse to use for kicking someone out just because you didn’t like them. It’s good to hear that the military is treating people better nowadays.”

“Well, that’s not always the case,” Sam said. “They might allow gay people to serve and recognize their partners, but that doesn’t mean they’re treated well. Vets aren’t really treated properly in general, and the VA system has a lot of issues.”


	4. Walter Reed Army Medical Center Neglect Scandal

Sam made grabby hands for his phone and opened the Wikipedia article on the Walter Reed Scandal from a few years back. “Just look at this. These were conditions that the US government knowingly let veterans live in within the past decade. Once soldiers get home from the war and aren’t fighting anymore, the government doesn’t really seem to care what happens to them.”

“This is horrible. How could they do this?!” Steve said, outraged. “These people risked their lives serving this country, and we can’t even offer them adequate shelter and health services when they return!”

“That’s why I work at the VA. Because for all its problems, it is the place vets look to for help. And I want to make sure that there’s at least one person there trying to help. But the whole system is messed up, and I can’t help everyone.”

Steve just shook his head, clearly still infuriated with the state of things. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Maybe we should change the subject.”

“Yeah. So, how ‘bout the Yankees?”

“You heathen!” Steve cried out jokingly. “The Dodgers are the only true New York team. Those Yankees are an abomination.”

And they both started laughing, holding hands across the table.

***

“So,” Sam said as they arrived home that night. “I guess we should probably talk about boundaries. Like I said a while ago: I don’t do sex. At least not with a partner. A little kissing is okay, but I don’t really like it when tongues get involved. It’s just gross and kind of distracting. Cuddles are good; sharing a bed, sitting together on the couch. Hand-holding, obviously. You?”

“Uh, yeah. Hand-holding is fine. And sharing a bed sounds good, but only with clothes on. I don’t really know about kissing. I’ve only tried it once, and it wasn’t very pleasant, but I also didn’t really like the girl. So, I don’t know?” He paused. “But I agree about the sex part. I have no desire to touch anyone else’s genitalia or have anyone touch mine.”

“Alright. Would you like to sleep with me tonight?”

“Um… not tonight? I don’t know if I’m ready for that. Can we just... watch a movie or something?”

“Absolutely,” Sam said. “What’s next on your movie list?”

***

By the time Pride arrived, Steve and Sam’s relationship had progressed to bed-sharing, and they had told some of their friends. But Steve hadn’t come out publically, either about being asexual or about being in a relationship with Sam. He had agreed to go, and he still wanted to, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for their relationship to be public knowledge yet. But he also didn’t want to have to hide. It was quite the dilemma. Sam kept saying that he didn’t have to, but Steve could tell he wanted to show off his superhero boyfriend. And Steve kind of wanted that too.

It wasn’t until the morning of the event that Steve made up his mind. He woke before Sam as usual and climbed out of the bed he shared with the other man. He left a note for Sam in case he woke before Steve returned. And he ran to the nearest arts and crafts type store.

When Sam finally rolled out of bed mid-morning, he found Steve sitting at the kitchen table staring intently at a purple t-shirt. In the middle of the shirt he had painted his shield, but the colors were black, grey, and white rather than red, white, and blue. It was the colors of the asexuality pride flag. Sam smiled at his adorable boyfriend.

“I made up my mind. I’m ready to come out. I don’t want to have to hide my relationship with you any more. And maybe I can help kids who realize they’re asexual to also see that it’s okay and they aren’t alone. It would have saved me a lot of frustration if I had had a word for what I was feeling back then.”

“I’m proud of you,” Sam said. “So, do I get a cool shirt too?”

Steve threw a wadded up purple shirt at his face and shoved the fabric paint across the table. “Go for it.”

Sam tried to make a pouty-face, but he wasn’t very good at it, and Steve just laughed. But he relented anyways and started working on the shirt.

***

The media storm after Steve’s appearance at Pride was expected, but that didn’t exactly make it any easier to deal with.

A lot of people were supportive, but just as many were spewing all kinds of hateful words. People were calling for him to step down as Captain America because ‘a faggot doesn’t deserve the title’. He and Sam ended up retreating to Stark Tower for a couple weeks while things cooled down. Tony helped arrange an appearance on a talk show for Steve to talk about his relationship.

Steve had heard of Ellen Degeneres of course, but it was quite different talking face to face with her. She was charming and hilarious and gave Steve the space he needed to come out properly and talk about what it meant for him to be asexual and in a relationship.

“I’m really lucky,” Steve told her. “Sam is ace too, so that makes things a lot easier on that front. There’s no worry that the other person won’t be satisfied because I’m not attracted to them in that way.”

“I’m sure a lot of people are wondering if you’ve ever had sex…”

“And that is absolutely none of their business. Whether or not I have had sex or might have sex in the future, I’m still asexual. Sexual behavior is related to sexual orientation, but it doesn’t define it. People have sex for a lot of reasons and not always with people to whom they are sexually attracted.”

“Nice answer, Steve.”

***

The interview was quoted and rebroadcast all over the place. It didn’t stop people from being bigots, but Steve also got a handful of letters from fans thanking him for coming out and showing the world that it’s okay to be asexual. And that made it all worth it. It was hard to believe that he had only been dating Sam about 2 months. It felt like so much longer sometimes.

***

And of course, there came a morning when Steve woke up with an erection. He tried to scoot away from Sam so that it wouldn’t be pressed against the other man’s leg anymore, but Sam snuffled and squirmed closer again. His clinging was usually really nice, but Steve was kind of panicking which made it a little hard to enjoy. He tensed and tried to scoot back again to no avail. But this time his movements woke Sam who blinked up at him with blearily, confused about why he had been woken so early. But he noticed how tense Steve was and backed and untangled their limbs.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.

Steve turned red and stuttered out “I k- kind of…” before giving up and just pointing at his penis.

Sam remained perfectly calm. “What do you usually do when this happens?”

“Just wait for it to go away or deal with it in the shower,” Steve said quietly, a little embarrassed.

“And what would you like to do about it now?”

“Um… go take a shower…”

“Alright. Then go take yourself a shower.”

Steve leaned over and kissed Sam, just a little peck, before sliding out off the bed and heading to the shower.

When he returned, now erection-less and feeling much better, Sam had drifted off to sleep again. But he still moved unconsciously towards Steve when he slipped back under the covers hoping to doze a little longer.


	5. Death of Freddie Gray

“I can’t believe what’s happening in Baltimore right now. It’s practically under martial law,” Sam said.

“What’s happening in Baltimore?” Steve replied. He had just returned moments ago from a three week mission overseas and had been looking forward to cuddling with his boyfriend.

“There were riots a couple days ago after the funeral of a young guy who suffered fatal injuries while in police custody. Black people keep dying at the hands of the police, the people who are supposed to protect us, and nobody seems to give a damn. And rioting might not be the best way to deal with an issue, but people are still trying to blame it on the victims and blame the rioters for the problems they were rioting to bring attention to.”

“I clearly missed a lot,” Steve replied, and Sam handed him his phone. The now-familiar sight of a Wikipedia article greeting him. This one was titled ‘Death of Freddie Gray’. Steve’s face went through a rainbow of color as he read about the recent tragedy and subsequent rioting. The nearby city was pretty much under lockdown. “What can we do?”

“Well, there’s honestly not a lot we can do about this particular case now that it’s already happened. But you can try and call attention to inequality and encourage the government to take action. Make people recognize that they may be more privileged than others and that they have a responsibility to be aware of that.”

“Okay. You’re right. I don’t think much about how privileged I am, especially in the non-super ways. But things will never change if we don’t start doing something different.”

So Steve started a new campaign of sorts to bring attention to the benefits people get from their various privileges, even when they intersect with less privileged identities. A lot of people got angry about it, but Steve was used to it at this point. He and Sam retreated to Stark Tower again once the death threats started rolling in. And things eventually calmed down. But the campaign garnered a lot of support.


	6. (+1) District of Columbia Voting Rights

“So, Captain America, can you tell us which candidates you’ll be backing in the election?” one of the reporters asked.

“I don’t think that’s really relevant right now. Can we get back to the Doombots that were trying to destroy the city, please.”

“But Captain, can you tell us which senator you’ll be supporting?”

Frustrated that the reporters wouldn’t give it up, Steve sighed and gave in saying, “well, I would tell you what senator I’m voting for, but as a resident of DC, I don’t have one.”

Half the reporters let out confused cries, clearly unaware of the fact the representational situation in the District. The questions continued, but Steve just ignored them and continued on his way.

***

When Sam arrived home from his own mission later in the day, he found his laptop sitting open with a sticky note on it that said “guess I found my new cause” in Steve’s neat handwriting. The open window on the computer when he booted it up was a Wikipedia article titled ‘District of Columbia Voting Rights’.

Sam rested his face in his hands for a moment before turning on the news to see what his boyfriend had done this time.


End file.
